dewme

jcbigears said:

I've never experienced a more bug-riddled update than iOS 17, and I'm pretty sure I've been through them all. I have had nothing but trouble with Siri, contacts, and watch-face complications. I would like to see an option of being able to roll back to a previous iOS but alas it isn't possible. Is it unusual to get three supplementary updates so quickly after the 17.0?

Great question.

I'd say that in the past it would be unusual to see so many updates rolled out so quickly because doing releases used to be a lot more work and more costly. They probably would have waited a little longer and accumulated more bug fixes before releasing a bigger update. Today, a lot of software development organizations follow a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD or simply CD) model which, in theory, means that every build or every daily build is in a releasable state. In other words, if they had to ship the daily build, it would be good to go and fully tested. That's the goal, but I'm not sure Apple or very many software development organizations hit that goal perfectly. Getting closer to the goal still represents a significant improvement.

For CD to work software development organizations have to use a lot more automation, especially around regression testing, but in all aspects of their process from compilation, understanding dependencies impacted by code changes, code signing, integration, version control, change management, installation packaging, etc. There are usually still some processes that require manual testing and verification, but anything that can be reliably and predictably automated without sacrificing the fidelity of the entire software system or introducing variation helps speed up the process is fair game for automation. 

So the simple answer is: because they've made the whole update process easier, faster, and less risky they can release far more often without sacrificing quality. While we are annoyed by the frequency of these updates, we are now exposed to the negative side effects of bugs for much shorter periods of time. In a world of zero day security exploits, this model has become a necessity for survival. This is why Apple has spent a great deal of effort on refining their CD process to the point where they can support their Rapid Security Response (RSR) update model. So far, so good. But like everything software related, it's still not perfect. Perhaps AI will help move us closer to perfect. 

y2an said:

Why is iOS not taking action on excessive energy use by apps and giving warnings, or slowing them down? That is, after all, why we have operating systems. 

jdw said:

I know AppleInsider often considers YouTubers a less than reliable source of information, but consider well what one respected tester has to say about the Instagram app consistently raising iPhone temperatures when doing nothing at all, which holds true among different iPhone models...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6X2ZIkYFsQ&t=478s

Nothing I read in the AppleInsider article seems to address the Instagram app, which as you know is not a gaming app.  And like I said, the testing indicates a large temperature increase even when doing nothing.  Since Apple vets all apps distributed in its app store, the question becomes how did Apple allow the Instagram app to get their approval?  Does Apple bear no responsibility for allowing apps that overheat iPhones to continue to be distributed?

I would appreciate it if you folks at AppleInsider could test the Instagram app and then write a follow-up article sharing your detailed thoughts.  Because in my opinion, if the Instagram app can cause heat to rise dramatically for no good reason at all, logic dictates that other non-gaming apps could do so as well.  This needs serious investigation.

Thank you.

Everything you’re saying with respect to some apps making higher demands on the operating system and underlying hardware than other apps makes sense. Any app that creates lots of higher priority worker threads and keeps those threads running and doing work will absolutely increase the workload on the system. If those threads are also utilizing other system resources that consume power like the GPU, I/O including the radios and modem, various sensors, and of course the screen it only increases the power consumption and consequently the heat that needs to be dissipated from the device to prevent overheating.

It’s an over generalization to say that only gaming apps can stress a system. Yes, some games tend to be very resource intensive and spin up a lot of higher priority threads because they are doing a lot of multiprocessing to maintain the computational dynamic models that define the game space and action. Plus they are constantly interacting with the user and need to be as responsive as possible. Basically, there’s a lot of processing going on both in the background and in the user interaction on the screen and through user controls so these apps are telling the operating system they want to run as many threads as possible as often as possible. The operating system tries to accommodate their needs to the extent that it can by scheduling run time quotas that meet the scheduling priorities that the app has specified when it creates its threads. When there is a mix of threads with varying priorities running concurrently (in a time sliced manner) this tends to work well, but if several apps ask for high priority scheduling all at the same time, the system will as fast as it can, consume more power, and generate more heat. Worst case, apps start running too slow in the eyes of the user.

On the other hand, many less interactive apps spin up a threads but a lot of these threads are doing less intensive background processing or waiting in an idle state to be woken up to respond to an event or interrupt. If those events and interrupts aren’t coming at a breakneck pace, perhaps because the user is typing or staring at the screen or little to nothing is changing that needs updating, the demands on the system are much lower.

At the same time, the operating system itself has to run all of its own threads and processes along with all of the I/O and background tasks that it needs to keep the system running and in a consistent state. Fortunately the operating system does assert its own precedence to satisfy its needs over those of the client apps with their processes and threads that have demands of their own.

I don’t know whether Apple’s app review process place restrictions on how much demand an app places on the system. Hopefully the app reviewers profile the resource demands and consumption that apps present and consider whether these make sense for the purpose and function of the app. An app that exhibits unusually high resource consumption could be indicative of an app that is doing something unusual or nefarious in the background, something that doesn’t makes sense based on the app’s advertised functionality. If this is the case I suppose they dig a little deeper and go back to the developer to inquire why the app is such a resource hog in light of what it is supposed to be doing.

Whether Instagram falls into this category is anyone’s guess. But if Instagram is consuming resources and placing unusually high demands on the system for the functionality it provides then I suppose users can inquire about this to the app developer or request additional information from Apple by reporting its behavior as a bug.

I’ve had 3 sporadic heat issues with my 14 Pro Max over the last 10 or so months. The last one occurred when I slid the phone into my pocket while making a gas stop and left the Maps navigation running. It got uncomfortably hot in my pocket so I powered it down and placed it in front of the AC vent when I got back in my car. When it cooled off to the touch I powered it back up and the issue did not reoccur.

It all happened very quickly, within 3-5 minutes or so of it being in my pocket. I attributed the last incident to the phone having poor reception and jacking up the radio power to try to get a better signal. The other incidents were not related to the use of the navigation functionality. The phone just got hot to the touch at random times. I suspect a software anomaly led to a process or thread spinning in an infinite loop because the phone seemed sluggish. Restarting the phone always made the issue go away.

All of my heat incidents were based on the phone feeling unusually hot to the touch or in my pocket. I didn’t have a non contact temperature measuring device with me and the phone did not pop up a warning of any kind. So it’s also possible that I was being overly sensitive to my phone’s condition.

I’ve yet to encounter any charging related heat issues with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but I’m only using Apple’s 20 W charger with an Apple brand MagSafe puck. 

jdw said:

We need a reprieve from iPhone 16 talk.  Seriously. Most people are still playing the waiting game for the iPhone 15.

Now I know full well you news people need to make money by releasing new stories.  And Apple rumors unfortunately has become a major part of that because it feeds selfish human nature to want, want, want. But here's the crux.  Many people get disappointed with Apple product releases only because they read the tech media stories, learn pretty much everything about a new device BEFORE it is released, and then on the day of the announcement they come away not surprised at all and somewhat disappointed.  Had the stories and rumors not existed, people could finally be pleasantly surprised and overjoyed at the update announcements once again.  That's right, there once was a time when we actually were surprised by Apple and those really were the Good Old Days!

All the leakers and analysts who feed the rumor sites non-stop need to crawl back into their holes and stay there.

If I could wave my magic want and make all the iPhone 16 talk vanish worldwide for the next 6 months at least, I'd do it.  We need to focus on what we have, which is great, by the way.  There will always be something newer and better, but let's just slow down and enjoy what's before our very eyes.

Lastly...

Tim Cook, people shouldn't have to wait more than 1 month for a phone that costs well over $1,000.  Not everyone can or wants to buy from a wireless carrier, which were allowed to buy up most of the iPhones and who made everyone else wait as a result!  Fix that!